Born Together-Reared Apart:The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study

“The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart” startled scientists by demonstrating that twins reared apart are as alike, across a number of personality traits and other measures, as those raised together, suggesting that genetic influence is pervasive. Dr. Nancy Segal, a professor in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton, and the director of the Twin Studies Center, offers an overview of the study’s scientific contributions and effect on public consciousness. Dr. Segal is an associate editor of Twin Research and Human Genetics, the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies.

This week on Skepticality, Derek briefly re-caps the events of the Skeptrack at Dragon*Con 2012. For those of you who could not make it out for the fun and excitement, he plays one of the group sessions from the event: a panel discussion which involved JREF Outreach Coordinator Brian Thompson, bestselling authors Michael Stackpole, Scott Sigler, and Gail Z. Martin, as well as Skepchicks Rebecca Watson and Amy Davis Roth. They discuss using popular art and creative endeavors to get skeptical and critical thought into a segment of the population which would otherwise never seek out the information directly.

Get the Skepticality Podcast Appfor Apple and Android Devices!

Get the Skepticality App — the Official Podcast App of Skeptic Magazine and the Skeptics Society, so you can enjoy your science fix and engaging interviews on the go! Available for Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Skepticality was the 2007 Parsec Award winner for Best “Speculative Fiction News” Podcast.

Yokai Attack!

This week on MonsterTalk, we interview Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda, authors of Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide, a book which details many folkloric monsters of Japan. From the slash-mouthed woman to a giant disgusting foot—these creatures have inspired fear and wonder in Japan and influenced books, movies and video-games.

Get the MonsterTalk Podcast Appfor Apple and Android Devices!

Get the MonsterTalk Podcast App (presented by Skeptic Magazine) and enjoy the science show about monsters on your handheld devices! Available for Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. To get the app for iOS devices, download the free Podcast Box App on iTunes and then search for MonsterTalk within the Podcast Box app to listen to Monstertalk on your iPhone, iPad or iPod. For Android devices, simply install the stand-alone app. MonsterTalk was the 2012 Parsec Award winner for Best “Fact Behind The Fiction” Podcast.

Richard Morrock is the author of The Psychology of Genocide and Violent Oppression, published by McFarland and Co. in 2011. He has served as vice president of the International Psychohistorical Association, and is currently working on a book about Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s intelligence chief, Charles Willoughby.

Of Miracles and Magisteria

a book review by Richard Morrock

Physicist Victor Stenger is renowned in skeptical circles as a hard-core atheist, and in his latest book, he targets organized religion as well as the quantum spiritualism of Deepak Chopra and the accommodationist position taken towards religion by adherents of Stephen Jay Gould’s Non-Overlapping Magisteria (NOMA). This book is clearly a must-read for anyone interested in the role of religion in society today, and it also provides an easy-to-understand explanation of quantum theory, showing that it lends no support to “New Age” spiritualism.

Stenger discusses everything from the origin of the universe to the 2012 elections. Even where one might disagree with his conclusions, he is still thought-provoking. Stenger demolishes the theist argument that science is no less based on faith than religion. He draws a firm line between faith and trust. We have faith in supernatural entities, whose actions we cannot experience directly, or in political or religious leaders whose sincerity has yet to be tested, but we trust science—or a reliable friend, or our auto mechanic—based on our experience. To believe in something in the absence of evidence is, in Stenger’s estimation, foolish, and it would be hard to disagree.

Many scientists, following the logic of NOMA, have concluded that science has nothing to say about the supernatural. Stenger points out that scientists have looked into near-death experiences and the effectiveness of prayer on the sick, finding nothing but trickery and self-deception. Why should angels, demons or God himself be considered off limits?

In fact, scientists had better hope that the supernatural doesn’t exist, because if it did, all scientific experiments could be invalidated. How would we know that a positive result was caused by the phenomenon the scientists were investigating, or by some lab worker who silently prayed for the outcome, or by an invisible imp lurking in the corner? Should scientists call Ghostbusters to sweep their labs before each experiment? What, then, about spooky action at a distance?

Stenger is right when he points out the hypocrisy of religious leaders who preach morality to their followers while leading depraved lives in private. And he has fun with the Catholic doctrine that we are all sinners and must suffer the tortures of purgatory before we are admitted, if even then, to heaven. We are still waiting for a priest to say to the grieving relatives at a funeral, “Your beloved husband and father is now burning in the fires of purgatory for a thousand years because he did some bad things in his life.” Instead, they invariably remind us that the departed are looking down on us from heaven.

Stenger says that the Vatican never excommunicated a Nazi leader. This is incorrect. Hitler and Goebbels were both excommunicated, but not because of their role in World War II or the Holocaust. Prior to the war, Goebbels married a Protestant woman without agreeing to raise their children—whom the couple murdered during the last days of the Third Reich—as Roman Catholics. Hitler was best man at the wedding. It’s not that the Vatican didn’t oppose Hitler—they thought he was too tolerant of other religions!

The theistic argument has always been that if the universe exists, it must have had a creator, who can only be God, whatever characteristics one ascribes to Him. This raises the question of who created God. Theists invariably respond that God always existed, to which Bertrand Russell replied that if God could always exist without being created, so could the universe.

That was before the Big Bang Theory (the cosmological event, not the TV show). Scientists accept the idea that the universe had a beginning 13.7 billion years ago. Even though this is consistent with the biblical account (“Let there be light”), fundamentalists in Kansas banned the Big Bang theory from the schools along with Darwinian evolution. Fundamentalists are opposed to science in principle, not only where it contradicts the Bible. Ironically, while the Big Bang theory does not prove the existence of God, it at least leaves open the possibility.

If the universe was created by a Big Bang, what caused the Big Bang? Perhaps a purple-robed patriarch? Stenger gives us a number of alternative scenarios, all of which leave out supernatural entities. One of these is the two-sided universe. One side is ours, and the other is a mirror image in which time runs backwards. Each side begins with a Big Bang and ends with a Big Crunch, causing the Big Bang on the other side. There, since the arrow of time runs in reverse, ashes burst into flame and turn into wood, water runs uphill, and predators regurgitate their prey, which then comes to life, and the two run off backwards with the predator in the lead.

Another scenario Stenger presents is the Multiverse, which holds that our universe is the result of a black hole created in a much larger universe, which in turn came from an even bigger one, and so on forever. This seems to contradict Stenger’s own claim that there are no infinities in nature, which, if true, would narrow down the number of possible scenarios for the origin of the universe. Furthermore, it overlooks the likelihood that each “daughter” universe would be far smaller than its “mother,” ultimately leading to mini-universes too small to create any new ones. And it hands the theists the argument that God must have created the Multiverse, since what else could have started it? In any case, we have no more evidence for other universes than we have for God, and this theory violates Occam’s razor by postulating a vast number of unproven entities. Also, how could scientists verify the existence of black holes, if they are in other universes?

Stenger is a reductionist, arguing that reality is “particles all the way up.” He dismisses the theory that there are different levels of reality, with new laws emerging at each level, claiming that this is supposed to lead to God controlling everything. Not necessarily. What he terms the emergentist (I prefer “interactionist”) position is just as compatible with atheism as it is with theism. The different laws that emerge at various levels—physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, history, philosophy—coexist with, rather than replace, the laws at the lower levels. After all, you cannot understand a football game simply by knowing the laws of physics; you also have to understand the rules of football, even if the players and the ball are ultimately made up of particles. Sometimes events at one level of reality cause events at another level, typically higher but occasionally lower. Stenger denies the possibility of such “top-down causality.” But examples of this would be someone suffering a heart attack (biological) after receiving distressing news (psychological), or the public getting angry (psychological) over something a politician said or did (historical). This has nothing to do with any supernatural creator.

Gould’s argument for NOMA, which Stenger rejects, was never intended to be a description of reality, but rather a prescription for it. NOMA reduces the Bible and other holy books to works of literature, often set in historical context, but no more literally true than Doctor Zhivago or Saving Private Ryan. These works have something to tell us, even though we recognize them as fiction. Just as we should learn to distinguish between faith and trust, as Stenger informs us, so should we distinguish between knowledge, derived from science and involving facts, and wisdom, which is supposed to be provided by religion, and which involves values. To be sure, we have pretty much mined the Bible for whatever wisdom it contains, and there is no shortage of pious but unwise people.

Science does not know everything, but if there are things we do not know, or may never know, there are others we can now be sure of. The supernatural does not exist; the laws governing the universe are immutable, and do not change because of our prayers; we don’t go to heaven or hell, or get reincarnated when we die; there is no inherent purpose to anything in the universe, except for our own lives and what we make of them. If the public can be educated to accept this, it hardly matters whether or not they call the laws of nature “God.”

God cannot yet be disproved, but at least we can dismiss angels, demons, ghosts and Santa Claus. And if miracles were real, far from proving the existence of God, they would actually disprove it. After all, if the laws of nature do not always apply—if the dead return from the grave—then anything is possible and no God is required to maintain the order of the universe, because there isn’t any order.

Religious people will not abandon their beliefs in the face of Stenger’s arguments. But they might revise them. Take away the supernatural elements from religion, which can be disproven, and the difference between the religious and scientific camps become little more than a matter of semantics.

Skeptical perspectives on science and religion…

In part 1 of our 2008 conference “Origins & The Big Questions” Emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, Dr. Victor Stenger challenges evangelical Christian cosmologist Dr. Hugh Ross makes his case for why there is no conflict between science and religion, and claims that in fact, science leads to the inevitable conclusion that God exists and that He’s the Judeo-Christian God. Order this debate on DVD, or order the other parts from this conference (or the entire 5-DVD set) below…

Today, there is arguably no hotter topic in culture than science and religion, and so much of the debate turns on the “Big Questions” that involve “origins ”: the origin of the universe, the origin of the “fine-tuned” laws of nature, the origin of time and time’s arrow, the origin of life and complex life, and the origin of brains, minds, and consciousness. Now, science is making significant headway into providing natural explanations for these ultimate questions, which leaves us with the biggest question of all: “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” we have assembled some of the world’s greatest minds to discuss some of the world’s greatest questions. In 2008, the Skeptics Society held a conference wherein we assembled some of the world’s greatest minds to discuss some of the world’s greatest questions…

Dr. Stenger shows that because quantum mechanics is obscure it is often misused to explain the “unexplainable”—ESP, psychic power, etc. But quantum mechanical hypotheses fit the facts of material reality quite well without any need at all to call upon mysticism.

William Lobdell’s journey of faith — and doubt — is one of the most compelling spiritual memoirs of our time. Lobdell noticed that religion wasn’t covered well in the mainstream media, and he prayed for the Lord to put him on the religion beat at a major newspaper. In 1998, his prayers were answered when the Los Angeles Times asked him to write about faith. What happened next was a roller-coaster of inspiration, confusion, doubt, and soul-searching as his reporting and experiences slowly chipped away at his faith. While reporting on hundreds of stories, he witnessed a disturbing gap between the tenets of various religions and the behaviors of the faithful and their leaders…

World-renowned complexity theorist Dr. Stuart Kauffman argues that people who do not believe in God have largely lost their sense of the sacred and the deep human legitimacy of our inherited spirituality, and that those who do believe in a Creator God, no science will ever disprove that belief. Kauffman believes that the science of complexity provides a way to move beyond both reductionist science and dogmatic theology to something new: a unified culture where we see God in the creativity of the universe, biosphere, and humanity…

7 Comments

I can’t tell how much of the foregoing is a Review or a tout for the reviewer’s personal beliefs and opinions.
Of particular interest to me is the reviewer’s opinion of what he thinks the Catholic teaching on purgatory is.
The Official teaching is in the Catholic Catechism #1030 to 1032.
(which the reviewer) has clearly not read)
It looks like the reviewer has added his own stuff to this.
(as a disclaimer, I think the Catechism has some pretty stupid stuff here )

This reviewer uses the classical “Straw Man” fallacy here which causes me to suspend trust in the rest of the review.

On the happy side, I think I will buy the book in self defense against the hard core new-agers who seem to regard Skeptics as second-class intellectuals.

the biggest problem with the pluraverse gigs is that the concept of free will
seems to be lost.
That’s OK but a typical response is
“then I can do ANYTHING i want to because the bad stuff I cause will get fixed up in some “parallel” universe

A good way for morons to use science to justify criminal actions.
I still believe that you are responsible for the consequences of many of your actions , star trek fantasies or not!

I suppose there’s no reason not to look at God from the perspective of science. But why bother? Aren’t there many more interesting things to investigate?

That said, we do have to consider the transcendent experience which anybody viewing a magnificent sunset can attest to. The mechanism is probably similar to the mechanisms discovered by d’Aquili and Newberg.

But why do we experience it? What selected for it? If it was not so selected why has it lasted? Do other animals have analogous experiences or is it a byproduct of our high powered brain?

Seems Stengers wants to erect a reductionist bulwark against creationists or anything that might admit of metaphysics. Reductionism is a philosophical position, not a scientific position, and to insist on it merely to rule out conjectures of the wrong sort seems cheesy to high heaven. Particle fundamentalist par excellence, it seems. I wonder why people adhere to the idea of a “fundamental” layer of existence when, as the author of the review indicates, cause and effect occur across all scales. Perhaps it’s because there are only a few layers where the kind of precision we currently understand to be scientific is possible.

I believe that Jesus became an alcoholic schizophrenic due to a whole range of factors, principal among the the circumstances of his birth, and made his way out the other side unassisted, an EXTREMELY RARE EVENT. Thus he UNDERSTOOD alienation, psychosis, alcoholism etc. and the PLACEBO EFFECT.

JESUS THE HEALER.
What if the miraculous cures that Jesus was supposed to have performed were not miracles at all but cures brought about by a psychological catharsis, rebirth if you like, based on his understanding of the placebo effect. Let’s say that these were disorders resulting from extreme persistent stress. Two major factors causing the stress, the horrific repression from both Romans, AND Jews upon each other, eg stoning. In 0004 a rebellion by one Judas of Galilee was put down by the Romans and he and 3,000 of his followers were crucified, with the crosses stretching all the way from Jerusalem to Damascus. Imagine the shock and insecurity, arbitrary arrest and crucifixion being common. Now add belief in sin and with it demon possession and thus EXTREME chronic stress..

Now consider that when Jesus said that he came to take away sin he meant the BELIEF in sin, that it didn’t exist and thus that demons also didn’t exist. Lets take a case in point, Legion, obviously suffering Grand Mal epilepsy with schizophrenia, hence auditory hallucinations ie voices (of ‘demons’). The convulsion of Grand Mal epilepsy are so bizarre there has to be some bizarre reason for them, MANY demons, ie a LEGION of them. He cuts himself with stones to let the demons out. Normally NOONE would go near him lest the demons jump out of him and into those who get close. People feeding him would leave his food some distance away the take off quick. Thus his social isolation would be TOTAL.

However, along comes Jesus with ‘disciples’ and is not afraid. But Legion is very frightened of these approaching strangers, thinking they are going to stone him to death. This fear induces a very severe fit and he falls to the ground thrashing around convulsing and cutting himself. He cries out “I am Legion for we are many.’ Jesus kneels down beside him, tears pouring down his cheeks at the horrific torment of this poor individual. He’s had his OWN torment, years of it, before finding his own rebirth. Jesus says ‘It’s okay Legion, there are no demons, there is no sin’. Legion cries out so loud that it frightens a herd of pigs which rush down into the river and drown, then he lets go and weeps, his body relaxing completely as he enters a profoundly euphoric state. Reborn. He looks into Jesus eyes and sees something he’s NEVER seen before, real love.

Love is understanding and thus having empathy. Love heals. ‘Perfect love casteth out all fear.’ Sin is fear and is illogical. If antisocial behaviour is natured or nurtured or BOTH then one CANNOT be responsible for it, Sadam Hussein, Slobadan Malosovitch or Adolph Hitler.. It is a consequence of inequality and that arises from the illusion that wealth brings happiness. It doesn’t. It just creates inequality. INEQUALITY is the root of all ‘evil’ and without money there can be little inequality.

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